Retired in St. Louis? Your Social Security Break Eats Your Pension Break
Revised October 29, 2026
Does Missouri tax social security and pensions?
Missouri does not tax Social Security for anyone 62 or older, as long as the benefits are in federal adjusted gross income. Public pensions can be subtracted up to the maximum Social Security benefit amount, minus any Social Security deduction you take. Private pensions, IRAs and 401(k)s get an exemption of at most $6,000, which shrinks once income passes $25,000 single or $32,000 married filing combined.
Keep reading ↓Who gets a cut of the 1099-R sitting on your kitchen table? It came in a thin envelope you almost tossed out with the grocery flyers. Now it’s propped against the sugar bowl, Box 1 staring up at you, the furnace kicking on behind you, and three governments are in the room: the IRS, Jefferson City and, if you live inside the city limits, City Hall.
Start with City Hall, because most people guess wrong in the gloomy direction. The City of St. Louis describes its earnings tax as a one percent tax on earned income such as salaries, wages, commissions, tips and other compensation. A pension is not a paycheck. The Collector of Revenue’s own earnings tax page settles it in one line: retired and unemployed individuals do not pay the tax.
The catch is work. Pick up a few shifts behind a hardware store counter in the city and the one percent comes right back on those wages, because the city’s earnings tax rules collect it from city residents wherever their employer is, and from anyone working inside the city, wherever they live. The pension check stays clean. The side-job paycheck does not.
Jefferson City is next, and Missouri is kinder than its reputation on one line and sneakier on another. Social Security comes off the state return once you are 62. A government pension gets its own exemption. But the two don’t stack. The Missouri Department of Revenue’s pension FAQ says it flatly: if you also claim the Social Security deduction, your public pension exemption will be reduced by that amount. That one sentence is where a retired teacher’s refund quietly shrinks.
Then there’s the river. Cross it to Belleville and the same envelope gets a different answer. The Illinois Department of Revenue says Illinois does not tax the federally taxed portion of 401(k) plans, IRAs, government retirement plans or Social Security benefits. Same Box 1. Same hum from the furnace. A different set of rules, one bridge away.
Here it is, one check at a time. General information, not tax advice.
Does Missouri tax social security and pensions?
Missouri does not tax Social Security for anyone 62 or older, as long as the benefits are in federal adjusted gross income. Public pensions can be subtracted up to the maximum Social Security benefit amount, minus any Social Security deduction you take. Private pensions, IRAs and 401(k)s get an exemption of at most $6,000, which shrinks once income passes $25,000 single or $32,000 married filing combined.
The pension lines sit on Form MO-A, the page of small boxes that rides behind your MO-1040, and the Department points you there to work out each exemption. On the tax year 2025 form, the public pension line reads: amount from Line 1 or $47,633 (maximum social security benefit), for each spouse. Use the form for the year you file.
Do this tonight, before anyone files anything: set your SSA-1099 next to the 1099-R, find the Social Security amount and the pension amount, and subtract the first from the second. That rough number is closer to your real Missouri public pension exemption than the one you have been carrying around in your head.
Missouri letting your Social Security go does not stop the IRS. The IRS says your benefits may be taxable if one-half of your benefits plus all your other income passes a base amount: $25,000 for a single filer, $32,000 for a married couple filing jointly.
The trap: two Missouri breaks that eat each other
Here’s the arithmetic nobody mentions at the retirement party. Say you retired from a county job with a $30,000 pension, under the yearly cap, and you also deduct $20,000 of Social Security on the same return. Follow the Department’s rule and the public pension exemption starts at $30,000, then drops by the $20,000 you already took for Social Security. You shelter $10,000 of that pension, not $30,000. The other $20,000 sits on your Missouri return as taxable income.
Screenshot that paragraph for anyone in your family with a public pension and a Social Security check. It is the single line most likely to make two retired neighbors with the same income get two different refunds.
If you spent a career in a public job where Social Security was cut, read this twice. The Social Security Fairness Act repealed the Government Pension Offset and the windfall elimination provisions. If either one ever shrank your check, a bigger Social Security payment now means a bigger Missouri Social Security deduction, and by the rule above, a smaller public pension exemption. Last year’s return is not a template for this one.
Private pensions, IRAs and 401(k)s: $6,000 at most, often nothing
This is the rule that covers the 401(k) from a private employer, the rollover IRA, the company pension: the statements in the manila folder that took a working life to fill. The Department’s pension FAQ sets the private pension exemption at $6,000 at most, with full eligibility only under these Missouri adjusted gross income limits:
- $25,000 - single, head of household or qualifying widow(er)
- $32,000 - married filing combined
- $16,000 - married filing separately
Above the limit, the exemption is reduced by the amount your income goes over it. A single filer far enough past the line gets nothing, so the exemption mostly helps people living on small checks.
Done squinting at boxes for one day? Here’s where to eat in Ste. Genevieve on a slow drive down the river.
Withdrawals, rates and the capital gains break
The Department posts each year’s rate on its individual income tax year changes page; check it for the year you are filing.
One newer break matters if you are selling stock or a rental. According to the Department’s capital gains subtraction FAQ, eligible individuals can subtract 100% of their federally reported capital gains from their federal adjusted gross income on the Missouri return. Ask your preparer whether you qualify before you plan a sale around it.
Illinois: the list, and where it ends
Illinois is broad, but it’s a list, not a blanket. Publication 120, Retirement Income lets you subtract the federally taxed portion of:
- Qualified employee benefit plans, including 401(k)
- IRA distributions, including converting a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA
- Social Security benefits
- Railroad retirement
- Government retirement and governmental disability plans, including military plans
What you may not subtract is just as specific: income that is not from a qualified employee benefit plan, including third-party sick pay and deferred compensation or disability plans that are not government plans. If you had an executive deferred pay deal or a private disability policy, read that line slowly.
Income outside the list does not get the subtraction. The state’s withholding tables put it at 4.95%, so a Glen Carbon retiree doing contract work two days a week pays it on that work like anyone else. Illinois also gives a personal exemption, and the Department’s form-change bulletin shows that exemption amount increased.
Why a short move counts: the federal law behind it
Retirement income is taxed where you live, not where you earned it. Title 4, Section 114 of the U.S. Code says no state may impose an income tax on any retirement income of an individual who is not a resident or domiciliary of that state. A career spent in a downtown office tower gives Missouri no claim on the retirement income of someone who now lives in Belleville. Wages are a different story, which is why the city earnings tax still follows a part-time job.
The city earnings tax, case by case
Put the city rules from the top of this page side by side and they sort out cleanly:
- A city resident living only on a pension, Social Security and IRA money is a retired individual, and retired individuals do not pay the tax.
- A city resident who takes a part-time job anywhere owes the one percent on those wages.
- A Ballwin or Belleville resident who works part-time inside the city limits owes the one percent on what they earn there.
More on how the tax is filed is in our guide to the St. Louis earnings tax.
Property tax: where retirees actually find money
None of this is income tax, but it’s where a lot of Missouri retirees get real dollars back. The City of St. Louis runs a Senior Citizen Property Tax Freeze Credit Program that limits future increases from residential property tax increases for seniors. Missouri law lets a county grant this kind of credit only if it adopts it, so county homeowners should start at St. Louis County’s freeze application page and confirm the deadline there.
The state’s Missouri Property Tax Credit is for a maximum of $750 for renters and $1,100 for owners who owned and occupied their home, for certain seniors and 100 percent disabled individuals, with household income limits. If your income is low enough to qualify, look at free tax preparation in St. Louis before you pay anyone to file.
Who gets the $6,000 tax break for the elderly?
Two different $6,000 breaks are floating around, and they get mixed up at every kitchen table in town. The federal one, per the IRS, is an additional $6,000 deduction for individuals age 65 and older, or $12,000 for a married couple if both spouses qualify, phasing out above $75,000 of modified adjusted gross income, $150,000 for joint filers. It is temporary, so check the IRS page for the years it covers. The Missouri one is the private pension exemption above. Same number, different government, different form. A retiree in Ferguson with a small 401(k) could qualify for both; a retiree in Chesterfield with a big one may get neither.
What to bring to a CPA or an enrolled agent
- Last year’s full federal and state returns, including Form MO-A or Illinois Schedule M
- Your SSA-1099 and every 1099-R, even the small ones
- A list of every account you draw from, pre-tax or Roth, and what you took out
- Your exact move dates if you crossed the river during the year
- Pay records from any part-time work, and where the work was done
- Your property tax receipt, or your rent statement if you rent
Then ask one question before any other: is my Social Security deduction reducing my public pension exemption, and by how much? Ask every preparer you interview the same thing. That habit is also how you go about choosing a financial advisor without a leap of faith.
Bring the envelope to someone local who will read the whole return. Browse financial planners on St Louis Near Me Directory for the withdrawal plan, keep a CPA or enrolled agent for the return itself, and on a tight income start with free tax preparation in St. Louis. Before you hand anyone a statement, read how to choose a financial advisor in St. Louis.
If you’re the CPA, the enrolled agent or the planner St. Louis retirees call every tax season, be the name they find when they go looking with this exact envelope in hand. A listing on St Louis Near Me Directory turns those searches into customers - list your practice.
Keep going on the paperwork:
- What a will or trust costs in Missouri
- St. Louis County senior tax freeze and Missouri Property Tax Credit
- Capital gains tax on selling a house in Missouri
- Roth vs traditional IRA and 401(k)
- The St. Louis money guide
Frequently asked questions
How much of Social Security is taxable in Missouri?
None of it for Missouri purposes if you are 62 or older and the benefits are included in federal adjusted gross income, and none of your Social Security disability benefits. Federal tax is separate: the IRS may tax part of your benefits once one-half of them plus your other income passes $25,000 single or $32,000 married filing jointly.
Are public pensions taxable in Missouri?
Partly. Missouri lets eligible taxpayers subtract public retirement benefits up to the maximum Social Security benefit amount. If you also claim the Social Security deduction, your public pension exemption is reduced by that amount, so the two breaks do not stack.
How is income tax treated on pensions in Missouri?
It depends on who paid the pension. A government pension gets the public pension exemption, capped and reduced by your Social Security deduction. A private pension, IRA or 401(k) gets an exemption of at most $6,000, reduced by every dollar your income runs past $25,000 single or $32,000 married filing combined.
What income is not taxable in Missouri?
For retirees: Social Security at 62 and older, Social Security disability benefits, public pension income up to the yearly cap minus the Social Security deduction, up to $6,000 of private pension income if your income is under the limits, and, for eligible individuals, federally reported capital gains through Missouri’s capital gains subtraction. Wages from a part-time job are taxable, and in the city they also carry the one percent earnings tax.
Who gets the $6,000 tax break for the elderly?
Federally, individuals age 65 and older can take an additional $6,000 deduction, or $12,000 for a married couple if both qualify, phasing out above $75,000 of modified adjusted gross income or $150,000 for joint filers, per the IRS. Missouri’s separate $6,000 is the private pension exemption, which phases out above $25,000 single or $32,000 married filing combined.
How much of my retirement income is taxable?
It depends on which bucket each dollar comes from and which side of the river you live on. In Missouri, Social Security at 62 and older is exempt, government pensions are partly exempt, and private pension, IRA and 401(k) money gets an exemption of at most $6,000. In Illinois, the federally taxed portion of qualified plans, IRAs, government pensions and Social Security is subtracted.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.